Americans Recover $7 Trillion In Home Wealth as Prices Firm
In March 2014, Steven and Bernadette Doherty paid $183,000 for a two-bedroom home in Charlotte, N.C., $6,000 more than its appraised value. Today, similar houses in the neighborhood are being priced at $300,000 or more. “We bought at the right time,” said Bernadette, a retired Wells Fargo & Co. information technology worker. “In retrospect, we were lucky as prices have gone up so much more.” Home-price appreciation is a welcome...
Dollar Up, Treasuries Fall On U.S. Economic Expansion
Global equities pared gains, the dollar rallied and Treasuries fell after reports showed the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation rose and the pace of U.S. economic expansion exceeded forecasts. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index trimmed a second weekly increase, after the benchmark fluctuated throughout Friday. The dollar strengthened for a third day versus the yen, while yields on 10-year Treasury notes topped 1.75...
Business of Agriculture: The threat of falling oil prices
Can fruit and vegetable farms in the Upper Valley survive the tumbling price of fuel? That’s a question I’ve been thinking about lately, with more than a little alarm, as both gas and diesel have fallen below the $2 per gallon mark. That’s less than half of what they were a few years ago. You might think that tumbling fuel prices would be good for local fruit and vegetable farmers, since we use gas in our trucks, diesel in our...
Business of Agriculture: The threat of falling oil prices
Can fruit and vegetable farms in the Upper Valley survive the tumbling price of fuel? That’s a question I’ve been thinking about lately, with more than a little alarm, as both gas and diesel have fallen below the $2 per gallon mark. That’s less than half of what they were a few years ago. You might think that tumbling fuel prices would be good for local fruit and vegetable farmers, since we use gas in our trucks, diesel in our...
Consumer Confidential: Obama’s Budget Plan Would Allow Greater Scrutiny Of High Drug Prices
Buried deep within President Obama’s $4 trillion budget plan are a couple of health care proposals that could change everything for U.S. consumers. The fact that the drug industry wasted no time in dismissing the ideas — and that their Republican friends in Congress said they wouldn’t even look at them — should tell you something big was afoot. The Department of Health and Human Services broke out Obama’s health care proposals in a...
